Cartoon Network Brings Some Fresh Faces To Life

February 12, 1995|By Lee Winfrey, Knight-Ridder/Tribune.

The Cartoon Network will begin airing its first new cartoons in February, seven-minute shorts with such disparate stars as a dinosaur, two ducks, two bears, an opossum, and three kindergarten girls with superhuman powers.

Cartoon, a cable channel with 11.8 million subscribers, has relied on a huge backlog of old cartoons since it premiered Oct. 1, 1992. Its only new creation has been the computer-animated host of "The Moxy Show," a package show of old cartoons that premiered a year ago.

The eight new cartoons that will air in February, March and April are the first of 48 new shorts that Cartoon will present in the next 2 1/2 years. An undetermined number of these 48, all with different characters, will be chosen to continue as series, Shirley Powell, Cartoon's director of public relations, said recently.

All 48 will be produced under the umbrella of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, a Hollywood production company bought in 1991 by Cartoon's owner, Ted Turner. Since they became partners in 1957, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera have created many famous cartoon characters, including the Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Tom and Jerry, Huckleberry Hound, the Jetsons, Scooby-Doo and Quick Draw McGraw. They have won seven Academy Awards.

Powell said all the new cartoons were aimed at viewers of all ages, including adults, a la such classic animated heroes as Bugs Bunny.

"The only thing we told the animators was, `It must be funny,' " she said.

None are outside the mainstream like MTV's "Beavis and Butt-head," and all are done in the traditional way: using hand-drawn frames called cels. "Our whole purpose is to hark back to the traditional hand-painted animation of the 1940s," Powell said.

Here are the first four of the eight cartoons, their creators, and their premiere dates, in the project that Cartoon is calling "World Premiere Toons":

- The Powerpuff Girls! (Feb. 20): After receiving an urgent telephone call, the Powerpuff Girls-kindergartners Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup-politely ask, "Teacher, may we be excused to save the world?" Their teacher, who has apparently heard this request before, amiably replies, "Yes, you may." Then they fly off to save the mayor, who is being turned into a steak by a villain who has invented a gun that transforms everything into meat.

- Dexter's Laboratory (Feb. 26): Young Dexter has built a laboratory in his home, where he invents such far-out items as a machine that turns people into animals.

- Johnny Bravo (March 5): According to his creator, Van Partible, Johnny Bravo "looks like James Dean and talks like Elvis." His chief interest in life is trying to pick up girls.

- Dino in "Stay Out!" (March 19): Ed Benedict created the artwork for Dino, who originally appeared on "The Flintstones." Barbera himself is directing the revival of the snorkasaurus, who's getting a show of his own.